


The First Time Matt Saw Mello’s Tattoo

by AlyaRayne



Series: The First Time Series [3]
Category: Death Note
Genre: Drunk Mello, High On Painkillers Mello, M/M, Mello got a tattoo because he's a sappy dork, Not Really Canon But Close Enough, Sappy, Slightly Depressed Matt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 21:27:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1201317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyaRayne/pseuds/AlyaRayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The beautiful, stylized black ink formed an ornate M on his right shoulder. The sight of the tattoo (something that Mello had gotten since he had left Wammy’s) brought tears to Matt’s eyes.  He wondered what else he had missed since Mello had left him, and the thought made him feel even more lost than he had after leaving Wammy’s. This beautiful, amazing blonde creature that lay in front of him was a stranger. Did he still eat chocolate by the pound? Did he still hate to seem vulnerable? Was he still haunted by memories of his family’s death? Did he still love Matt? All of these questions played through the gamer’s head as he stared hard at that single, black tattoo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Time Matt Saw Mello’s Tattoo

It was late afternoon in the apartment Matt had rented when he had moved to Japan to follow Mello, as he had been doing for the past year. The redhead was sitting on the pillow he had put next to his small, crappy mattress he called a bed, a cigarette in his mouth, unlit. His eyes were fixed on the form under his blankets on the bed. Messy blonde hair spread across the pillows, pale skin glowing in the slight bit of sunlight visible through the broken plastic blinds that covered the room’s small window.

Mello had been sleeping fitfully for nearly all of the two days since he had contacted Matt for the first time in a year. Mello had sounded half dead, and it had been like pulling teeth to find out where the blonde was. He had found Mello lying mostly unconscious in a pile of rubble and ash, his face and arm burnt badly. He had taken Mello back to his apartment, even though he wanted to take the blonde to the hospital, but Mello had begged him not to, so here they were. 

He had cleaned and bandaged the blonde as best he could, after ringing up an old friend who actually knew about this shit. It had taken several hours and a lot of vodka to get Mello through it all, the blonde digging the fabric of the couch hard enough to tear it as he screamed in pain. That was enough to frighten Matt, because Mello never made any kind of noise like that if he could help it. 

Since then, Mello had been asleep or downing the painkillers that Matt usually took for his headaches. Needless to say, Mello was out of his head with pain and medication at the moment and was now out cold, whimpering slightly with every breath. He had fallen into bed wearing a pair of Matt’s pajama pants and nothing on his top, and at some point he had rolled onto his stomach his face turned away from Matt. 

The gamer looked away finally after many long minutes of contemplating the shadows on the blanket, his goggles sitting next to him on the ground. He had his PSP next to him as well, but he hadn’t wanted to play in case something happened to Mello. 

With a groan and a restless movement Mello’s blanket slid down his back, coming to rest just under his shoulders, revealing a bit of the white bandage that was wrapped around his arm and part of his torso where the fire had eaten at his skin. Matt sighed, reaching out a hand to run across Mello’s head. This dislodged Mello’s blanket further, causing it to slide down just enough to reveal a bold, black line on his skin. 

Matt had noticed it earlier, but he had been a little preoccupied with trying to patch up his burned friend to pay much attention. Now, though, the blonde was asleep, and there was nothing that Matt could do for him. With that thought in mind he carefully pulled the blanket down. 

The beautiful, stylized black ink formed an ornate M on his right shoulder. The sight of the tattoo (something that Mello had gotten since he had left Wammy’s) brought tears to Matt’s eyes. He wondered what else he had missed since Mello had left him, and the thought made him feel even more lost than he had after leaving Wammy’s. This beautiful, amazing blonde creature that lay in front of him was a stranger. Did he still eat chocolate by the pound? Did he still hate to seem vulnerable? Was he still haunted by memories of his family’s death? Did he still love Matt? All of these questions played through the gamer’s head as he stared hard at that single, black tattoo. 

Tentatively, Matt reached a hand out and brushed his finger over the swirling lines that for some reason he expected to be able to feel the ridges of, taking in the soft, warm skin beneath for the first time in so long it made his heart ache. The feeling of the body he had once known so well had him longing to get to know it again, but he didn’t know if Mello would want that back. With a sigh, he let his finger map out the letter, following the curves and lines many times in the silence. 

“I got it for you, you know?” Mello’s voice made Matt jump, his hand pulling away so quickly he ended up smacking his own leg.

“What?” The blonde’s head turned towards Matt, and he gave a wince as his burn was bumped slightly. He pushed himself over so he was lying on his side. His visible eye was still slightly glazed over, but he looked alert enough.  
“That tattoo. Everyone in the Mafia thought the M was for Mello, but it wasn’t. It was for you.” Whatever he looked like, the blonde was obviously still out of it. He was never this sappy, even when they were younger. This was confirmed a second later when Mello said in a low voice, “I missed you, Mattie.” Drugs or not, this made Matt both happy and sad to hear.  
“Missed you too, Mels.” the blonde smiled, a true, genuine smile that lasted for only a second because it obviously caused him to much pain to move his mouth that way. He groaned, his undamaged arm coming up so he could run his fingers over the gauze. 

“You know, when I called you, I thought it would be the last time I ever heard your voice.” said the blonde, his voice slightly slurred. 

“You mean you thought I was still at Wammy’s.” It wasn’t a question. The blonde nodded slowly, his hair bunching on the pillow. 

“Why weren’t you?” Matt shrugged, his shoulders protesting. He really had been sitting in one position for too long. 

“After you left, there was nothing at Wammy’s that I needed.” This made Mello’s eye soften, his gaze filling with unshed tears. He blinked once, and they were gone.  
“So you just picked up and followed me?” A soft laugh escaped Matt’s throat, a sound that had been nonexistent for almost a year. 

“Pretty much. Cashed out my trust fund early and hopped a plane.” Something in Mello’s gaze made Matt feel like the blonde was searching his soul for the answer to some complicated question. Suddenly, there was a soft, warm hand on Matt’s and long fingers twining with his. 

“You did all that for me?” Matt nodded, his face splitting into a grin for the first time in months. 

“Of course, you’re Mello. I would do anything for you.” Those three wonderfully poisonous words were left unsaid, but both men knew what that sentence meant. Mello squeezed Matt’s hand once, his lips quirking sideways so as to not pull his burns.

“Even lay with me?” There was a hint of seduction in Mello’s voice that was enough to bring a flash of desire sizzling through Matt’s nerves, but he pushed it away. Now was not the time. 

“Are you sure you’re up for it?” Instead of answering, Mello simply unlinked their fingers, grabbed Matt’s shirt, and pulled him down. Matt went without protest, sliding onto the mattress and under the covers. Mello turned onto his uninjured side, facing the wall away from Matt. The redhead instantly knew what the blonde wanted and brought his arm around Mello’s chest, holding him gently. 

“Thank you.” Matt barely heard this through the rustling of the covers. 

“You’re welcome, Mels.” he rubbed his thumb gently over the warm skin of Mello’s abdomen. “Do you need more meds?” the blonde shook his head slowly, obviously half way to sleep. 

“No.” the fierce note of defiance made Matt want to sigh and roll his eyes. Sometimes Mello really was too stubborn. 

“Alright then. But you should get some sleep. We have to change your bandages in a few hours” Mello would never admit to the shudder that went through him at the thought of taking off the gauze. Even though there was a Teflon layer between the bandage and the burn it would still hurt like hell. He just hoped Matt had stocked up on vodka.

Matt was convinced that Mello was asleep, and was half way there himself (having not slept at all since Mello called him) when the blonde spoke. “There is something else you can help me with.” 

“Anything.” said the redhead against the blonde’s hair. 

“I want to watch Kira burn, and I’m going to need your help.” Matt did his very best to ignore the sharp sting of fear that went through him at these words. He cleared his throat.

“Yeah, alright. Just tell me what you need.” but the blonde was already snoring softly. 

 

Fin

**Author's Note:**

> Ahh, high, sappy (and slightly crispy) Mello. So this was actually written months ago, but I don't have internet right now so posing things is hard. Luckily my sister has internet at her house, so maybe I can start posting stuff again. But yeah, anyway, this is set just after Mello get's blown to hell, so November 2009. Hope you liked it! If you want to talk about the series, or pretty much anything else, you can hit me up on tumblr: http://alyarayne.tumblr.com/.


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